The Covid-19 pandemic ushered in government benefit programs aimed at relieving the economic burdens the pandemic and the resulting lockdowns caused to individuals and businesses. Among those benefits was the Employee Retention Credit (ERC). Individuals and employers are being warned that making false claims for an ERC credit will and…
Equifax Breach: A Cybercrime That Affected Millions of Americans You have probably heard about the Equifax breach by now. As far as identity theft crimes goes, this was a big one. An estimated 143 million people in the United States may have had their personal information compromised when cybercriminals gained…
Zulmai Nazarzai was never convicted of a crime; he was never even charged with a crime. Yet he has been sitting in solitary confinement in the Orange County jail for six years now. That is a long time to spend in solitary confinement. In 2010, the California attorney general…
Insurance fraud is any act committed with the intent to obtain a fraudulent outcome from an insurance process. This may occur when a claimant attempts to obtain some benefit or advantage to which they are not otherwise entitled, or when an insurer knowingly denies some benefit that is due. The…
Identity Theft Identity theft is defined in Penal Code 530.5 and is described as follows: The willful taking of someone’s personal identity information for the purpose of securing credit, money, services or property, in their name for your benefit, without their consent. If you take and keep another person’s…
California credit card fraud encompasses several acts of fraud, including credit card theft. The following is a list of specific acts: 1. PC 484e Stolen Credit Card 2. PC 484f Forging Credit Card Information 3. PC 484g Fraudulent Use of Access Card or Account Information 4. PC 848h Retainer Credit…
Medical overbilling is a crime often overlooked by prosecuting agencies, probably because most insurance companies focus on overt, long-term acts of outright medical insurance fraud, where no services at all are rendered, or, as in the Unity case, unnecessary procedures were performed. But charges were filed against several chiropractors and…
Can the tissue-thin fabric of Homeland Security withstand another tear in it? The Orange County Register reported today that federal authorities arrested Eamon Higgins on charges that he was illegally helping some Arabs take college exams in order to extend their visas in the United States. Seems Mr. ‘iggins would…
John Arther Walthall, of Laguna Beach, was arrested last week for defrauding a Laguna Niguel elderly couple out of $4.7 million dollars.Walthall told this couple that he had invested his own money in a gold mining business and it had been very profitable for him. The couple gave millions of…
Bethany Jane Brady worked as a bookkeeper for the Hampton Salon in Newport Beach for 15 years. During that time, she allegedly embezzled over $245,000 from the company. Police think that initially, she took money from the salon’s checking account and paid off her bills. Eventually, she started taking money…